NSF INCLUDES: A Community Centered Approach to Improving STEM Pathways for Underrepresented Students

由于正规教育课程的孤立性，无论出于何种原因，选择退出STEM课程的学生几乎完全失去了参与科学领域的机会，从而关闭了STEM劳动力管道的大门。这对有色人种和女性学生的影响不成比例。该项目推进了一个由社区参与合作伙伴组成的联盟，包括大学和k-12教育机构，社区学院，社区组织，文化机构和当地企业。围绕该联盟建立的项目将利用课程中的跨学科空间，特别是人文和社会科学，跨越学术水平，作为整合和应用STEM的论坛，以应对现代生活的实际，社会，经济和政治问题。PI建立了一个实体社区STEM中心，作为STEM参与的锚定机构。该中心将位于联盟服务的社区内，为学生带来STEM机会和参与，而不是要求他们来到目前提供STEM教育的地方。通过社区STEM中心制定的活动将侧重于社区所经历的持久问题，学生，社区居民，教师以及来自高等教育，行业和其他社区实体的专家可以聚集在一起，共同努力了解他们，并发展以证据为中心的宣传作为解决这些问题的手段。为了促进社区STEM中心的工作，该项目创建了一个社区大使计划（CAP），利用联盟成员与社区合作的参与。这个设计和开发启动试点将培养必要的知识基础，以开发一个可扩展的模型，在不同的城市社区实施。技术总结此设计和开发启动试点项目的重点是将STEM教育的叙述从单一的关注正式的教育体验和目标STEM内容转变过来。该项目开发并促进了一系列平行活动，旨在让代表性不足的学生学习STEM如何以及为什么与他们的生活相关，并通过新的和非传统的教育层面进行接触。这一拟议试点的五个主要目标是：（1）发展一个社区参与伙伴的试点联盟，包括大学和K-12教育机构、社区学院、社区组织、文化机构和行业;（2）建立一个实体社区STEM倡导中心，作为试点联盟服务的社区内的变革锚定机构;（3）利用课程中的跨学科空间，跨越学术水平，特别是人文和社会科学，作为整合和应用STEM的论坛，以影响现代生活的实际、社会、经济和政治问题;（4）创建社区大使计划，与社区合作，利用高等教育试点联盟成员的参与;以及（5）对项目倡议和研究进行评估，以确定系统方法的可用性和可行性，从而开发基于社区的跨学科途径，以拓宽STEM参与途径。研究这种以社区为基础的跨学科方法的影响的努力集中在与STEM兴趣，自我效能和身份有关的近端结果上。数据将在我们的三个组成样本前/后格式收集：1）社区STEM倡导中心参与者; 2）K-12学生;和，3）大专学生。将通过MANCOVA进行数据分析，以解释结构评分之间的潜在协变。还将收集定性数据，以便将调查结果置于背景之中，从而能够编写内容丰富的案例研究。将在社区STEM倡导中心和两个课堂实施中进行至少两次观察，以记录参与，参与者互动和STEM内容水平。

General SummaryBecause of the siloed nature of formal educational curricula, students who opt out of STEM coursework, for whatever reason, lose the opportunity to engage with the domain of science almost entirely, thereby closing the door to the STEM workforce pipeline. This disproportionately impacts students of color and women. This project advances an alliance that consists of a consortium of community-engaged partners, including university and k-12 educational agencies, community colleges, community organizations, cultural institutions and local businesses. The project built around this alliance will leverage interdisciplinary spaces in the curriculum, particularly the humanities and social sciences, across academic levels, as a forum for integrating and applying STEM to bear on the practical, social, economic and political issues of modern life. The PIs establish a physical Community STEM Center as an anchoring institution for STEM engagement. This Center will be situated within the community that the alliance serves, bringing STEM opportunities and engagement to students instead of asking them to come where STEM education is currently provided. The activities enacted through the Community STEM Center will focus on enduring problems experienced by the communities, where students, community residents, teachers, and experts from higher education, industry and other community-based entities can come together to work on understanding them and developing evidenced centered advocacy as a means for addressing them. To facilitate the work at the Community STEM Center, the project creates a Community Ambassadors Program (CAP), leveraging participation across alliance members in partnership with the community. This Design and Development Launch Pilot will cultivate the necessary knowledgebase to develop a scalable model for implementation across diverse urban communities. Technical Summary This Design and Development Launch Pilot focuses on shifting the narrative of STEM education away from a solitary focus on formalized educational experiences and targets STEM content. This project develops and facilitates a parallel set of activities designed to engage under-represented students in learning how and why STEM is relevant to their lives, and approached through new and non-traditional educational dimensions. The five main objectives of this proposed pilot are to: (1) Develop a pilot alliance of community-engaged partners, including university and k-12 educational agencies, community colleges, community organizations, cultural institutions and industry;(2)Establish a physical Community STEM Advocacy Center as an anchoring institution for change embedded within the community that the pilot alliance serves; (3) Leverage interdisciplinary spaces in curricula, across academic levels, particularly the humanities and social sciences, as a forum for integrating and applying STEM to bear on the practical, social, economic and political issues of modern life; (4) Create a Community Ambassadors Program (CAP), leveraging participation across higher education pilot alliance members in partnership with the community; and (5)Conduct an evaluation of project initiatives and research regarding the usability and feasibility of a systemic approach to developing community-based, interdisciplinary pathways to broaden STEM participation pathways. Efforts to examine the impact of this community-based, interdisciplinary approach concentrates on the proximal outcomes related to STEM interest, self-efficacy and identity. Data will be collected in pre/post format across our three constituent samples: 1) Community STEM Advocacy Center participants; 2) k-12 students; and, 3) postsecondary students. Analysis of data will be conducted through MANCOVAs to account for potential co-variation among construct scores. Qualitative data will also be collected to contextualize findings and enable the development of a rich case study. At least two observations will be conducted in the Community STEM Advocacy Center and the two classroom implementations to document engagement, participant interactions and level of STEM content.